


The Measure of Man

by navaan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath, Developing Friendships, Gen, Gen Fic, Introspection, Post-Movie, Teambuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-10
Updated: 2014-05-10
Packaged: 2018-01-24 06:38:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1595273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve already knows he misjudged Tony Stark, but he learns even more about him when he meets James Rhodes. Set right after <i>The Avengers</i>.</p>
<p>Gen with slight Pepper/Tony in the background</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Measure of Man

Every bone in his body aches.

He's exhausted enough to just fall asleep right here where he's sitting, only occasionally remembering to pick at his food - which is surprisingly delicious, considering they're sitting in the middle of a war zone and this place is in shambles. And he should know, because he's had food in war zones before, but never before like this and certainly not in New York. He's just too tired to really care about food at the moment.

But it _is_ good and beneath the tiredness somewhere he's truly hungry – his super soldier metabolism making itself known – and he takes a halfhearted bite and chews, sneaking a glimpse at the people around him. They are a strange, ragtag group of heroes for sure, but for people who are so different and started out on the wrong foot they have worked together better than Steve could ever have expected.

And they saved the day. What more could anyone want really?

Steve knows something about people and group dynamics. He fought with a group of trusted men for long enough to understand how these things start out and then grow, between battles fought and private moments. For a moment he ponders how he has come to sit between the alien prince and the SHIELD agents, until he realizes that they've all neatly paired up in twos, the agents, the scientists and the warriors. He smiles tiredly at the thought, asking himself if that's truly how they see each other; if now that the threat is gone and Loki isn’t influencing them anymore they'll still go back to view each other as strangers who see only the surface of the people beside them.

His eyes fall shut and he doesn't fight it. As nobody calls him on it, he doesn't really see the need to. 

He must have actually drifted off a bit, because he jolts awake when some loud, blaring music starts playing close by. But it seems there is no reason for alarm. Doctor Banner is leaning back in his chair, calmly and with some interest watching Stark, who is tiredly pulling out one of these modern cell phones that Steve has not yet had the time to get entirely used to.

“Pepper?” Natasha asks, and Steve looks over at her mechanically, not really _looking_. But she's looking at Stark with an unreadable expression.

“Rhodey,” Stark says, after pressing the back of his nose with two fingers and widening his eyes comically, trying to make himself a little more awake. Apparently even an incessant talker like Tony Stark can be tired enough to prefer silence. And it only takes battling an alien army, falling out of a wormhole and nearly dying in the process.

He'll keep that in mind for future reference.

“Isn't he in the Middle East?” Natasha asks with a frown. Suddenly even she looks tired enough to fall down any minute. Steve wonders if that's what he looks like at the moment, because he sure feels like it.

“Doesn't mean he can't call.” Stark hides a yawn and answers the phone.

Steve leans back in his chair with a sigh and closes his eyes again. If he closes his eyes tight enough he can pretend that this is just a dream, brought on by reading too many bad pulp stories. He really loves science-fiction, he just never expected to live it.

“Hmmm... Called Pepper in between being gently woken by the Hulk and locking up the green wizard of alien invasion stardom,” Stark says. Steve thinks he sounds the way he sounded on the Helicarrier, flippant and sure of himself, but much more tired than he had back then. “Yeah, clean up. Hey, _you_ never call me for the fun bits either. Don't complain.”

He's silent for a moment and Steve is believes the talk is over, but when he blinks his eyes open a little, he can see Stark is still holding the phone pressed against his ear. His eyes are closed though. Maybe he has fallen asleep right in the middle of the conversation. Steve could really emphasize with that at this point.

“I'm fine. No, honestly, this time” Stark says then and sounds even more exhausted than before. “Banged up, but only a little. Don't start, mum.”

The way he says it makes Steve smile, forgetting everything that has been going on around him, remembering Bucky and similar conversations, as if they happened just a few days ago, not a lifetime away.

“I'll be there,” Stark concludes and puts down his phone. His eyes are still closed and Steve thinks maybe it's time to admit that all of them are too tired to eat and just break this up, but nobody says a word. 

Well, nobody says a word until Stark leans back, eyes open and suddenly alert, looking around, shortly letting his eyes pass over all of them before settling on Dr. Banner. “I don't know about you, but I'm really tired. Want a place to crash? I own this slightly banged up building not far from here, you know?”

Banner doesn't move, but Thor nods. “I'd stay close to my brother. He might try to escape.” 

“I'd appreciate that, actually,” Tony admits. Loki has been restrained and locked away in the basement of Stark Tower, and left behind with S.H.I.E.L.D. watching over him, but Thor seems to take his family business seriously – and all of them will likely feel better with Thor staying close-by until he can take Loki back to Asgard, where people are actually equipped to keep him in line.

Hawkeye pushes himself up from the chair, slowly, moving carefully. “Let's go then.”

And Steve finally fully opens his eyes looking between them, and realizes that the invitation hasn't only been extended to Dr. Banner, but that instead all of them are going to spend the night at Stark Tower, apparently.

It makes sense, he thinks, and gets up to fall in line with the group, relieved that tonight he won't be stuck in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, with eyes following his every move. Awe, wonder, respect, suspicion. He really doesn't want any of that tonight.

* * *

When he wakes up in a room that is barely furnished, but still better than the bedrooms he's used to, he allows himself to stay under the sheets for a while longer. It feels strange to wake up on a soft mattress after a hard fought battle. Not long ago he was sleeping in the trenches. No, long ago he was sleeping in trenches, but he has no memory of the lost time in between. This still feels wrong. He's reluctant to get up, which is unusual for him. But S.H.I.E.L.D. will call if he's needed and Stark and the others know where to find him. So instead of getting up and ready he closes his eyes again and thinks about everything that's happened.

What would Bucky have thought about any of this? Aliens in a future New York, fighting along-side a man who turns into a green monster when he's angry, a god from outer space, a team of lethal spies, and a man in robot disguise? Bucky would have loved it, probably.

But how much crazier can life get?

He realizes now that yesterday the Tesseract or Loki or _something_ brought out the worst in all of them for a while, realized it yesterday, but didn't have time to think about it then, with the god trying to divide and conquer. In hindsight it makes too much sense. Unleash the beast that all will fear and hate and who will lash out at them in turn. It makes him a little angry to think that they were so easily manipulated, but what makes him uneasy that he doesn't understand the “magic” that made it possible in the first place. Would it have been this easy if they had already known each other better?

In that room at the beginning all he knew about Stark and Banner came from S.H.I.E.L.D. files. He never even asked to meet Howard's son in person before that, because his file made him sound like someone he didn't really want to meet. Now he knows more about him and the others, and feels that under different circumstances he would have known better than to judge to quickly. Steve knows about people, knows that everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves before they're judged. Where would he be otherwise?

His first impression of Stark would still not have been favorable he supposes, but he remembers vaguely that it took some time for him and Howard to really get along too.

And now that he finally has time to think about it, it's clear that Tony must have felt the same about him. Stark clearly has trouble with military types – and for obvious reasons. He doesn't like authority figures, is used to having his own way, learned the hard way to trust only himself, made a fortune with selling arms to the army and now is the arms dealer who doesn't deal with weapons any more. It makes sense. 

What is Captain America if not a good soldier, part of all the things Stark would dislike or be suspicious of? _We're not soldiers_ , he remembers Stark shouting at him and back _then_ it seemed like he was rejecting Steve and what he stands for. It hadn't exactly helped that Stark came across as the kind of self-centered rich guy pretending to be a hero, annoying Steve every chance he got. 

He sits up in the bed and decides that it's time to go find something to eat – and then maybe search out his host and make sure that now finally they are on the same page.

* * *

He takes the stairs in an attempt to work his joints a little, stiff after yesterdays exertions. He's surprised when he ends up in front of a closed door and has to jog down again to take the elevator, not sure if there are other stairs that lead further up. As he has no real idea where Stark would be staying, he decides to try and get up to his ruined penthouse, but he's surprised once again to hear voices coming from down the vast corridor. With no idea who could be around the Tower but the other Avengers, he decides to follow the voices and walks away from the elevator.

The smell of food is alluring.

“God, Rhodey, stop fuzzing. It makes my head spin.” It's obviously Stark.

“I really don't see how that's my fault. You sure you didn't hit your head, when you, you know, fell out of the sky?”

“I wore my security helmet.”

“Must have hurt anyway.”

“Had worse,” Stark returns.

“When?”

“I'm not dying this time. That must count for something.”

“That's reassuring, Tony, really. You look terrible. Have you looked into a mirror recently?”

Steve steps through a wide open door to stand in another spacious, partly furnished apartment and looks around the corner. Tony Stark is standing in front of a stove in a bright and open kitchen. A glass of orange juice is in his hand and he's glaring at a man sitting across from him, wearing a uniform, leaning forward to glare across the table.

He takes a moment to just look at them, wondering what's going on here. Then the smell of eggs and pancakes gets overwhelming and he notices the pans on the stove and the plates on the table. 

“You're worse than Pepper, mother hen.”

“You need it.”

“Love you, too.”

The man glares harder and Stark laughs. The man isn't wrong about his looks though, he still looks tired and there's a visible bruise on his cheek now, but Stark looks much better than he looked when Steve last saw him. 

He clears his throat to get their attention.

“Cap,” Stark says startled, then gives him a crooked smile. “Hungry?” he asks and gestures at the stove.

“You're cooking?”

Stark looks between him and the stove and frowns a little. “Don't tell anybody. It's a secret.” As if his ability to prepare pancakes is something that could seriously hurt his image. “We tell people JARVIS cooks just to be sure.”

The soldier looks at Steve with wide eyes for a moment, then gets up. “You're...” he starts.

Steve cuts him off with an offered hand and a smile. “Steve Rogers,” he says and shakes the man's hand. By now he has made the connection. “You must be, Colonel Rhodes.”

“Don't swoon, Rhodey. It's only Captain America,” Stark says from his spot at the stove, where he has turned away from them to watch over their breakfast. Steve is glad to note that he doesn't sound purposefully condescending, but playful, some hint of fondness in his voice. So far Steve had only heard him talk like that to one person: Banner. This must be for his friend Rhodes.

“I thought you weren't good with military types,” he comments into Stark's general direction. But the man just shrugs and doesn't even look at them.

“He's perfect with military types when he needs to be. But he doesn't like authority figures,” Rhodes tells him. “Never got out of the rebellious phase.”

That makes him chuckle. “I noticed.”

“If you won't stop gossiping neither of you'll get breakfast,” Stark warns them. 

Steve smiles, surprised that he's so easily included in what had apparently been meant as a breakfast shared between friends. “Where is everybody else?” he asks.

“Hmm?” Stark turned around to fill the plates. The picture he makes doesn't fit with the image of Tony Stark that exists in Steve's mind. But he has already learned that the Tony Stark that exists in his mind might not exactly exist outside of it. He's not sure the Stark that _Stark_ thinks exists actually does either.

“The others, where are they?”

“The agents are gone. Another S.H.I.E.L.D. debriefing or something. Thor is out to help clearing away rubble. He's not far away in case there's trouble. And Bruce is asleep and if there's no incident with the megalomaniac downstairs, I'd say we don't try to wake him.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Steve says with a smile, happy that things seem to actually be going their way now.

Stark sits down opposite from Steve and motions for him to do the same, then eyes the food. “Now that I think about it. How are we going to feed an alien Norse God?” He looks around as if he just thought of something. “And how much food do _you_ need, Super Soldier? Higher metabolism and all? I think I need to seriously stock up. I had only planned for Pepper and me – and between the two of us, we don't really eat much.”

“You do eat more when she's around,” Rhodes points out and smiles mischievously, as if this is a continuation of a conversation they have often.

Stark rolls his eyes at him and Steve thinks he's seen that expression before. Yesterday, when he thought Stark was so full of himself that he wouldn't take anybody's opinion seriously but his own. Apparently, with the way Rhodes reacts to it with a small complacent half-smile and a challenging look of his own, this is just something Stark _does_. “Beside the point. Neither of us eats more than Thor. Or a Hulk? How much will Dr. Green and Angry need when he's not green but tired? That transformation must seriously take some energy, even with gamma radiation fueled cells.”

Steve is glad to see the fast talking has returned, although the man still looks banged-up and exhausted. He thinks about the question and shrugs. “Don't worry about me. I eat more than I used to before the serum, but I won't eat you out of stock. But I can't speak for the others. And we probably have to feed the crazy Norse God locked away in the cellar at one point.” 

“Hmm.” Tony looks pensive. Then his stomach growls and he flinches. “Okay, seriously, food first.”

“That's interesting,” Rhodes says with a smile. “It only takes an alien invasion to set your priorities straight.”

Stark sighs and gives Steve a long suffering look and rolls his eyes again, as if he wants Steve to know that his friend is seriously overstating the matter. It's so childish and _comfortable_ that Steve easily smiles back. “I'm a hedonist, Rhodey. I forget about other things when I'm caught up in something, but that's it.” He shoves a fork full of eggs into his mouth and looks at the man as if he's proving a point.

Rhodes laughs.

It's Steve's stomach that makes itself heard this time and he gives the two men a sheepish grin, before he starts eating, feeling much better about himself and the whole situation than he felt right after waking up.

* * *

Stark gets called away the moment they are finished eating. New York is really in need of some help and apparently not only has Stark already called in his own people to help with the clean up, he's also ready to throw himself into the suit again to help them out if they need it.

Rhodey frowns at that, but doesn't hold him back. 

“Isn't the suit busted?” Steve asks. 

“Two of them were,” Stark says, as if that's all he's going to say on the matter. “I'll be back in a moment. Play nice with each other. Don't gossip.”

“As if,” Rhodes tells him and then makes a shooing gesture at him. 

Stark sticks out his tongue at him and is out the door, as if he's on the run. Maybe he is. He seems like someone who is always on the run.

“Come right back!” Rhodes calls after him, then turns to Steve. “If he makes War Machine come after him to get him back, I'll be in trouble with my superiors _and_ Pepper and I'm not sure who scares me more.”

Steve smiled. “I've not met Ms Potts yet, but I think I like her.”

Rhodey looks at him with a relaxed expression. “She's something. He can really be glad that she's putting up with him.” There is no adoration or hero worship lurking in his gaze now when he looks Steve over, but there's respect. “So I hear you were off to a rocky start,” he says. 

There is no question about what he's talking about. It's obvious.

“We all were,” Steve says, but silently wonders what Stark told his friend, what his side of the story sounds like. He thinks that when it comes down to it, Stark will call things as he sees them and it's an understatement to say that as much as Steve thought Stark was a dangerous and selfish man, Stark must have thought Captain America to be a real disappointment. “I think we understand each other better now, but yesterday we had some problems seeing eye to eye.” 

“He's not an easy man to get to know.”

“Understatement. He seems intent on making the worst possible first impression. Not that I was all that concerned with making a good one either.”

“Did you give back as good as he gave you?” He shrugs. Which Rhodes seems to interpret correctly as an affirmation, because he smiles and nods. “Then the two of you'll get along nicely.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, and I'm one of the few experts on the topic of Tony Stark. Don't believe S.H.I.E.L.D. dossiers. Romanoff may know what she's talking about, but she only evaluated him for a few short weeks. To her credit he was acting like a hot mess and an even worse asshole then. Mostly because he was dying. Not that that's an excuse.”

“I see.”

“The thing you have to understand about Tony is that in a weird way only very few things can offend him. He thrives on insults. Just moves right ahead, working with what he's given. If he gets angry at something, then it's usually because he cares deeply. It's one of his few tells. But he only keeps grudges if you really make him. I think he doesn't even remember who Justin Hammer is, since that moron went to prison.”

Steve lets that sink in.

“So if you have questions ask Pepper or me. Apart from when he's dying - then everybody'll be angry at him, because he'll see to it, and then we'll probably have bigger problems than figuring him out for the moment anyway.”

“Sounds... great. Confusing, but great.”

Rhodes smiles. “He needs people who don't let him pull his shit all the time.”

“I think it probably takes a little more than that.”

“Probably. But he talks highly of you. Did this morning.” He leans over with a smirk and a conspiratorial look. “Don't tell him I said that.”

He laughs. “I won't.”

“Then we'll get along nicely, too.” 

They shake hands and Steve feels like he's just made another friend.

* * *

Iron Man is hovering above them. Banner has joined them on the platform and although he watched Rhodes warily for a while – an understandable reaction to the uniform –, he obviously has warmed up to him already.

Tony is dropping down on the platform and machines peal away his suit. Around them the terrace still bears the visible marks of battle. 

“So what have you been up to while I did the heavy lifting?”

“We gossiped,” Bruce supplies helpfully, giving Steve a laid back smile that shows non of the tension that can never be far away for Banner.

Stark just shrugs. “Naturally.” He hops down the few steps and joins them, for all the energy in his step, he looks exhausted still. 

“We could have helped,” Steve says, before he can stop himself.

“Yeah, but what kind of host would I be then, huh? Thor had breakfast yet? He did some heavy lifting to.”

Banner and Steve share a look, because they checked up on Thor just half an hour ago and he's keeping watch in front of his brother's makeshift prison. Banner shrugs. “No,” Steve says. “We should probably get him something. He's downstairs watching his bother and he takes guard duty seriously.”

“Huh. And doesn't that make all of us feel better.” He's watching something inside and suddenly the computerized voice of his A.I. announces: “Agents Romanoff and Barton are on their way up.”

“Isn't that nice. It's like class reunion, just with less time passing after graduation.”

“You never went to any class reunions,” Rhodes tells him.

“I barely went to school, before graduation,” Stark deadpans. He motions for them to step inside. Banner is the first to go in and Rhodes follows with a role of his eyes. 

Steve watches Stark for a moment and then says: “For the next reunion, why don't you bring Miss Potts? I really want to meet her.”

“Hands off, Captain. I'm already more than she can handle.”

“Sounds like she can handle you just fine.”

“Bruce wasn't joking about the gossip, huh?” He looks mock offended and then just shakes his head and walks in.

It seems Rhodes really knows one or two things about Tony Stark – and Steve and Tony will get along just fine from here.

He follows him in to meet the others, watches Tony and Natasha tease each other as if they are the best of friends, listens as Clint asks Banner questions about the cage they're keeping Loki in for the time being. 

“Are you okay?” Tony asks him halfway through. “You're so quiet.”

“I'm a quiet man,” he shoots back.

“Perfect, because he talks for two,” Clint says. “You'll be the best of friends.”

Steve thinks he might be right. And who knows, maybe they already are?


End file.
